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Saturday, December 31, 2016

Our Black Dog's New Year's Song

Our Black Dog vocalizes more than any dog I've known before. This last surgery seems to have put him over the edge, and I can't blame him. After elbow surgery in April that put him out of commission for a very long time, he was finally back to an almost normal life.

He and the Runner were exploring our trails during long runs again.

And he and his sister were racing around like siblings again.

We humans both felt that R was in less pain from his elbow than he'd been for many years. He was born with elbow dysplasia, and it relentlessly progressed over the years. The CUE surgery seemed to take him back many years to the days when his elbow was nothing more than a small bother.

Then, we found a couple of growths on his good front leg, and our vet was concerned that they might be cancer. Thank goodness that they weren't cancer!!! However, poor R is now at the end of another 2 week recovery period. It's almost nothing compared to what he went through with his elbow surgery but I get his attitude.

When I have to take Shyla for her normal outings without him, he howls mournfully as we leave. He's done more sad howling in the past two weeks than in the rest of his life combined.

We captured some howling on video for you. In this case, it wasn't sad. We had construction going on in another part of the house, and he began harmonizing with a Sawzall just like he harmonizes with our local coyotes.

19 comments:

my theory about singing dogs is the noise hurts there ears. he sounds like a wolf.. we had a dog for 16 years that howled like this only when we left him home alone. the neighbors told us. we did not know he was howling so we sneaked in once and there he was in the middle of the bed howling ... I much prefer howling to barking. in the last year of her life, Baby started barking all the time and the vet said because she could not hear or see well, she could hear her own barking.

I always love hearing a dog howl. We've had some howlers in the past that would usually get going when the fire trucks drove by with their sirens blasting and I used to be able to get one of our GSD's going by howling myself. The current pair have rarely if ever howled.

Our neighbours dogs, both labs, join in as a fire engine or ambulance siren screams by. R, you are a great guy, and to you all there, Happy New Year, Have good health for you all, heaps of winter snow, happiness and more.

OMD, Ma's Angel Panda (an OES) used to do that when planes would fly overs! The neighbors loooooved it ☺Butts, I'm with you R...I likes to express myself too, I 'talk' LOTS! BOLI hopes you and your pack have a most FABulous New Year! (with lots of margaritas...okays, maybe that's just me....)Kisses,Ruby ♥

I'll have to come back and listen tomorrow in the daytime - the kittens and Piper are just settling down after supper, and I'm pretty sure the goats can hear anything that happens in the house - I don't want to worry them after dark.Happy New Year, KB and Co.!

We were visiting my parents and when we'd leave our mini schnauzer would go to the window and howl away. Neighbor had an African Grey parrot who liked the sound of it and awakened his family every day with a loud Bitsy howl. We thought it funny, they didn't!

R! We love singing with the coyotes and I have taught our next for neighbor doggie to join in. Osa just likes to talk. she talks about everything. All of the time!! Happiest of New Years to all of you!

The Kiss: K and R

About Me

I live at 8200' in the Front Range of Colorado. I love exploring nature
in the mountains while riding my mountain bike and romping with my
two Labradors. Photography is another passion, including both "normal" photography and trail camera photography of wildlife.

My two dogs are Shyla, a 6-year-old Chocolate Lab, and R, a 10-year-old Black Lab.